St. Petersburg, Russia Day One May 27, 2012

So the very first outing in St. Petersburg was to the Church of the Spilled Blood. So beautiful and amazing to see in person. I was convinced it was St. Basil's but of course, we were not in Red Square. I guess I will have to go back some day. Still made me cry with the beauty and actually being in Russia. Then I felt like crying when I realized I had no more camera battery and neither did Kathie. Her pictures didn't get transferred to our computer either. I'm still going to try and find her pictures and if I do I will upload them to the blog.

I think the picture of all four of us is on Kathie's camera.

Called Church of the Spilled Blood because it is the place Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. It's official name is Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.

We couldn't believe all the vendors setting up right in front of the view of the church! The tiles on this church are so intricate! I could have stayed and studied them for hours. 

      So our first day in St. Petersburg began by meeting at 7:15AM and returning back to the ship at 5:30PM. We had a long day and would leave the ship again at 6:15PM to head to the Russian ballet. We enjoyed all of our visits throughout the city.
     As well as seeing this beautiful church we drove by the fortress of Peter and Paul built in 1703. Then we went to The Hermitage Museum along with thousands of Russians and other tourists. The day we visited just happened to be St. Petersburg's birthday and first night of White Nights Celebrations. There were tons of Russians out enjoying the sunshine and celebrating the holiday.
       We had tickets for the Hermitage the wait wasn't long but we had two hours in a museum that is filled with amazing treasures! We were rushed but I was thrilled to have been in the Hermitage. We did have one problem at the Hermitage with our fellow excursion passengers. Several were not in the best of shape and this particular excursion was listed as strenuous.  It stated clearly that the museum was not air conditioned and it would be very crowded with lots of walking and stairs. Many of them could not keep up with the group and the guide was particularly concerned since it is a BIG problem if anyone gets separated from the group. Visitors to Russia must have a Visa unless you are with a tour guide from the ship. Poor guide. She decided that maybe we didn't have to go upstairs to see the impressionists and took a poll. This did not fly well with me at all! I went up to her and told her that the excursion papers made it very clear it would be a hot, strenuous visit and those who wanted to skip the full museum tour clearly ignored those facts. I for one did not intend to cater to rude Americans who didn't care about anyone else's visit to the museum. One person actually said they saw all they wanted to see! The guide decided to let the others rest downstairs while the rest of us virtually ran through the upstairs section. Rushed because of her concern letting them remain on their own as well as the crowd factor. Three cheers to her for not letting them bully her and three cheers for me not letting them get away with messing with my tour!